In this podcast, Max Franke (@max_franke), head of business development and communications at epubli, talks about the current state of the German ebook market and what the future might hold. In terms of ereading devices, he says Apple and Google thus far have had an edge over Amazon because tablets are more popular in Germany than dedicated ereading devices.

The state of the German ebook market: Compared to the United States, the market is still very small, says Franke. He discusses some reasons behind this, including lack of content and high prices, but also says he expects it to change with the growing ubiquity of ereaders and tablets. [Discussed at the 1:01 mark.]

Tablets are more popular than ereaders in Germany: Though Amazon is the biggest bookseller in the German market, Franke says Apple has edge an edge over Amazon because the tablet generally is preferred over dedicated ereader devices. [Discussed at 3:57]

Rigid DRM continues to be the publisher preference: Though epubli uses a social DRM solution, in which ebooks are watermarked for tracking down piracy, the publishing market as a whole still thinks a rigid structure is best. [Discussed at 8:32]

You can view the entire interview in the following video.

TOC NY 2012 — O’Reilly’s TOC Conference, being held Feb 13-15, 2012 in New York City, is where the publishing and tech industries converge. Practitioners and executives from both camps will share what they’ve learned and join together to navigate publishing’s ongoing transformation.